BRAND CIA: A Client of Intelligence

Yes, even the Central Intelligence Agency advertises from time to time. The Mingo Group, based in New York, recently created the ad seen here to recruit people with disabilities as CIA employees. Another campaign by the agency (the ad agency, that is) promotes an internship program that recruits students in various academic fields to try a stint at the agency (the intelligence agency, that is) in return for tuition assistance. Since intelligence is a quality ad agencies often profess to find lacking in their clients, we got to wondering: Would the world be a happier place for ad agencies if more clients were like the CIA? On the plus side, the CIA won’t go out of business and leave its ad agency stuck with unpaid bills. And, close-mouthed bunch that they are, the spooks probably won’t leak disparaging remarks to the trade press if they’re displeased with an agency’s work. Nor is there much danger of cut-rate spy operations stealing share of market from the big brand-name Company. On the downside, though, the agency isn’t likely to launch brand extensions that could really grow an ad agency’s billings in a big way. Well, can’t have everything.Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)